“Who’s from Minneapolis?” “Who’s from Saint Paul?” “What’s the difference?”

Those words from Trash Talk singer, Lee Spielman, really stuck with me. It didn’t matter what city you were from. It didn’t matter what kind of music you usually listen to. It didn’t matter what age you were. If you were at the Doomtree Zoo yesterday, you had a great time no matter what.

Trash Talk was definitely a highlight of yesterday. These guys are a straight up punk/ hardcore band from California that seemed to be the odd guys out on a primarily hip hop lineup. That being said, they definitely didn’t let this slow them down or let the crowd stand back and ignore them.

From the second the took the stage these guys commanded the ever-growing crowd. The singer was only on stage for one or two songs and spent the rest of the set in the crowd. It didn’t matter that he was using a corded microphone, (eventually, someone gave him a wireless “Uh-oh.. I’ve got a wireless mic now. Nobody is safe!” he joked) Spielman was all over the place. He didn’t care if you were a hip-hop fan, a rap fan, a punk fan, whatever… you were going to do as he said and he proved that.

At one point, he had everyone get really close and sit on the ground with him. People were hesitant as there was a mosh pit that kept breaking out and some of this crowd seemed a bit un-experienced in the moshing realm. If you weren’t sitting on the ground, he would call you out. Nobody was exempt. My friend Angel and I were a bit reluctant as we knew a pit was sure to ensue after sitting but, as he had done with so many other people, we hear “Hey! Purple dreads! Get the fuck down!” Angel has purple dreadlocks. We promptly found ourselves sitting on the beer soaked ground.

Doomtree Zoo was held at CHS Field which is the beautiful new baseball stadium in Saint Paul built for the Saint Paul Saints. Spielman found this to be a perfect chance to get the crowd involved yet again. At one point, he had everyone in the crowd go find a seat in the stands. His goal was to try and fill up a whole section. Although this didn’t work as well as everyone sitting on the ground. It was still quite a sight to be seen.

Koo Koo Kanga Roo is a local pop/ hip-hop duo that was doing pop up shows all day long. Doomtree Zoo was advertised as a family friendly event and Koo Koo Kangaroo really stuck to that idea. Angel and I caught one of their pop up shows near the entrance of the stadium. They started with their song “Everybody Poops” which is literally about how everybody poops. The crowd was a mixed bag but mostly families with young children. They would get the kids to dance and sing along but even if you weren’t a child, you couldn’t help but to smile.

They only played two songs during the pop up show but for the second song they brought Stef (better known as local rapper and Doomtree member P.O.S.) up to sing about orange juice. The song was hilarious and ended with bringing out the coveted rainbow parachute. You know the one! That one that they would bring out in P.E. class in elementary school that you wave in the air and sit under and would be the highlight of your week.

Doomtree was obviously the headliner and they more than earned that right. Their set was great. It was full of group songs and songs from the individual artists of the collective. The crowd never stopped jumping and dancing which helped warm us all up being that it was a freezing October day in the cities. The high only reach the mid 50’s but that didn’t stop the crowd and just gave them more reason to move around.

The music was on point. The energy was immeasurable. Even if you didn’t know the words to any of their songs (although majority of the crowd knew every word) you couldn’t help but dance along with a smile on your face. Each member of Doomtree had their time to shine but it was more about the group as a whole which was nice.

The night ended with a beautiful fireworks display behind the stage and everyone stumbled home happy as a clam.

The Doomtree Zoo was a great example of just how diverse the Twin Cities are. There was rap, hip-hop, punk, pop, and even choral music. There were inflatable bouncy houses right next to the Surly beer truck. There were all different kinds of people all gathered for one common love… the love of music, the love of local music.

There were so many acts yesterday that trying to write this blog proved to be a bit overwhelming. Moral of the story? Much like every other show I go to, you just had to be there. My stories and thoughts can only do so much.

Get off your butts and go to a local festival or just a show in general! I promise it’ll be worth your time!

Line Up:

Doomtree
Aesop Rock w/ Rob Sonic
Trash Talk
Shabazz Palaces
Open Mike Eagle
serengeti
Aby Wolf
Koo Koo Kanga Roo
Anonymous Choir
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre

Venue: CHS Field

Broken Bones- None

Average Age- 1-99

Spotted Flying Through The Air-Beer

People Passing Out In The Crowd and Being Dragged Out- 2

Crowd Surfers- 1 failed attempt during Doomtree and the singer of Trash Talk during their set

Merch Sold- 1,239,723,487  Doomtree Hoodies because nobody was ready for how cold it was.. and because they are super cool hoodies

Drunks Stumbling Through The Crowd- 138,734,834,598